


Now I Know the Truth

by palateens



Series: OMGCP Valentines 2017 [4]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Getting Back Together, M/M, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 07:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9593198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/pseuds/palateens
Summary: He needs to be honest with Jack. He and Kent only just got back together after years apart. They’re the precedent of what can happen if he doesn’t communicate while the weight of the hockey world is pounding down on them.OrThe one where soulmarks are words that signal a significant change.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Soulmates 
> 
> So, there's a version of Soulmate AU's where your words are the last thing your soulmate tells you. And at one point, I wrote a scene where Bitty finds out that Kent is Jack's soulmate. However, I wanted to make it my own and twist the narrative even further.

Despite the stories spun by Hollywood, every person had multiple soulmates. Every person was born with a phrase tattooed on their bodies. For centuries, people believed it to be the last words your soulmate (singular) would ever say to you. This inspired fear in most and lead to stories such as Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_ and Emily Brontë’s _Wuthering Heights_.

In the last five centuries, however, global travel revealed the existence of multiple soulmates for each person. Even more interesting, telecommunications proved that each soul mark is in fact much more nuanced than simply ‘last words’. The mark is meant to indicate the moment when everything changes. Sometimes that means hardships, separation, or death. But sometimes, the words can lead to something greater. If only the soulmates know how to navigate life and each other.

Bitty didn’t know about this technicality until he got to Samwell. Until Shitty and Lardo literally run into Camilla at Winter Screw and realize all three of their marks synch up. The phrase “1 in 4, maybe more” is very appropriate considering the high percentage of soulmates that meet multiple partners at Samwell.

He tries to be happy for them as they fall into each other. He ignores the way Ransom, Holster, March and April circle around each other, avoiding the moment when they realize they’ve been in a relationship forever. He rolls his eyes when Ollie and Wicks sneak behind the docks before games to kiss their boyfriend, a Chad, for good luck. But Bitty thinks it’s sweet nonetheless.

He isn’t even jealous when Chowder breaks up a fight between Nursey and Dex saying “I love you, but this has got to stop.” Which just so happens to be Nursey’s phrase. And much later when Dex tells Chowder “you mean more to me than a stupid fight.” He’s happy for them. Especially when they meet Farmer and she ticks off every one of their phrases by the time their Frog year is over.

He doesn’t believe it’s going to happen for him. Not at Samwell at least. His phrase could be worse.

 _We’re a team_ is branded in small font on his wrist. It’s still customary to keep your phrase hidden from the public eye, so he wore wrist guards when it’s hot out and long sleeves at every other opportunity.

Bitty thinks that’s nebulous, but distinct enough that he’ll know it when he hears it. His words don’t come for quite some time. In the interim, he falls in love with Jack whose phrase is supposedly hidden somewhere near his torso. He doesn’t think much of it when he overhears Jack and Parse fighting during the Epikegster.

_Kenny…I can’t do this._

_…Jack, come on._

_No, I…um, Kenny—_

_—Zimms just fucking stop thinking for once and listen to me. I’ll tell the GMs you’re on board and they can free up cap space. Then you can be done with this shitty team. You and me—_

_Get out._

_—Jack_

_You can’t—you don’t come to my fucking school unannounced_

_Because you shut me out—_

_And corner me in my room_

_I’m trying to help—_

_And expect me to do whatever you want—_

_Fuck Jack! What do you want me to say? That I miss you? I miss you, ok? I miss you._

_You always say that._

_It’s better than what you say._

_…_

_You’re right, I shouldn’t be here. It’s not like we’re soulmates._

_Kenny…_

_I guess the next time I’ll see you is on TV._

_Don’t._

_Don’t what? I didn’t leave six years ago, and look what good it did. It’s your life, Zimms. I shouldn’t have to fight to be in it._

Bitty’s key drops onto the floor. When Parse opens Jack’s door, his hair and shirt mussed. Bitty catches a glimpse of writing on his collarbone. He tries to ignore what this means about Jack. What could have been between the two of them. But Jack already knows who he’s gonna end up with. That doesn’t stop him from getting his heart broken at graduation.

“I guess the next time I’ll see you will be on TV,” Bitty deflects. He takes his leave before he can break down in front of Jack. In hindsight, he doesn’t know why he says it. It just seemed right.

He’s sad and feeling lonelier than ever, so he keeps himself busy as he always does. He tidies up Jack’s old bedroom (now Chowder’s), drowning out his sorrow in Beyoncé. He doesn’t expect Jack to come running up to him, kissing him. He doesn’t expect it to be so perfect.

He doesn’t remember to ask Jack what they’re doing until he comes down for the 4th of July. They’re lying together in his daddy’s truck, not a soul in sight.

“You said my words,” Jack explains.

“Really?”

Jack nods, he lifts his shirt, a few words peeking up from his hip bone. When he pulls down his jeans slightly, Bitty can read the entire phrase.

_I guess the next time I’ll see you will be on TV_

“Oh Jack,” Bitty murmurs softly. “He said it wrong on purpose, didn’t he?” He doesn’t mention Kent or the Epikegster specifically, but they both know what he’s referring to.

Jack swallows thickly, looking down at a belt loop on his pants. “He said it right the first time.”

“Did he know?”

“Non, I never let him look at it before then.”

“Can I ask?”

“It was the last thing he said to me the night before the draft,” Jack runs a hand through his hair. “He found me a few hours later. I said his a few days later. He took it as a sign. I told him to fuck off.”

“That’s a lot to think about,” Bitty admits.

“I suppose.” Then Jack adds, “it’s his birthday.”

“You should call him,” Bitty nudges him gently.

“Why?”

“You said you both have a lot to apologize for,” he reminds Jack, “maybe it’s time.”

So Bitty curls up next to Jack as he calls Parse. Bitty knows what he’s doing. He knows he’s resigning himself to sharing Jack, probably for the rest of his life. But he thinks it’s worth it to see Jack happy.

He meets Parse properly in August. Parse (“you can call me Kent, Bits”)  turns out to be a cool guy. Sure, he’s a drama queen with a penchant for impulse buys but Bitty likes the person Jack is when the three of them are together. He and Kent have both said Jack’s words; they’re meant to be there. Bitty assumes that someday Jack will say his words.

Doing a long-distance relationship with a professional hockey player is more difficult than he imagined. Sure, Bitty knew he and Jack were going to have to keep quiet about them. It’s hard though, when everyone in the world thinks that the man you’re in love with is just your best friend. People were insensitive at best, violently homophobic at worst. And people were quick to excuse soulmates for being gay when they _weren’t_ professional athletes. Pro sports, Shitty often argued, was the last great holdout for straight cis white men to believe their narrow minded world was real.

Bitty keeps things light as much as possible. He assures Jack that he knows what he signed up for (or at least he has a better picture now). He finds himself going to Kent when things get to be too much. Kent’s the only person who knows about them, and he’s dating Jack now too. It’s this shared comradery where they can compare notes about how wonderful their boyfriend is while pinning over the idea of a simpler life.

“You’re handling this a lot better than I used to,” Kent tells him one day in November. He’s walking home from a lecture and had just enough time to call him before he left on a week-long roadie.  

“Y’all were seventeen,” Bitty points out. “I don’t know how comforting that is.”

“Shit, you’re right,” Kent laughs. “I’m sorry, I wish I was better at this.”

“This what?”

“This…whatever we’re doing,” he fumbles. “I don’t know what to call it.”

“Well,” Bitty starts carefully, “what do you want it to be.”

“I—” Kent sighs, “I want to say dating but…you…”

“Already have one closeted relationship to figure out?”

“Exactly,” he clears his throat loudly. “Look, we’ll figure this out ok? We’re a team.”

It come up so casually, Bitty almost misses it. He gasps nonetheless.

“Bits? Are you ok?”

“You said my words. You said ‘we’re a team’.”

“I did?” Kent says incredulously. “Fuck, what are the odds? Hang on.”

“What?” Bitty snaps before realizing Kent’s put him on hold.

“Ok I just checked and it’s like more common than I thought,” Kent pauses for a moment. Bitty can hear a mouse clicking. “Up to thirty five percent of the world population has multiple soulmates that all meet and sync up.”

“You did not seriously look up statistics at a time like this,” Bitty reprimands him.

“Maybe?”

Bitty rolls his eyes, “I signed up for this. I literally just signed up for this.”

Kent chuckles and Bitty swears his heart melts a little. “You should talk to Jack. Seriously, I know you’re worried about him worrying about you but he deserves to know, you know?”

“I know, you’re right,” Bitty sighs. “Alright, hun, I’m at the Haus and y’all got a flight to catch.”

“Promise you’ll talk to him?”

“I promise.”

Only, Bitty puts it off for weeks. And then, in hiding his guilt at breaking a promise, he sort of avoids Kent as well. Which means he has absolutely no one to talk to about being soulmates with two NHL stars. Therefore, his candle is burning at both ends, trying to be a good partner, friend, and student all while suppressing every emotion he can think of. In hindsight, if he’d stopped to take a deep breath during that period, he might’ve found it wasn’t so difficult to pick up a phone and call Jack.

It doesn’t occur to him how much he needs to talk until Shitty and Nursey are talking about Jack ruining his career somehow. He drops a pie, which by all accounts is a perfectly normal occurrence (especially if your name is Derek Malik Nurse). But he’s staring at this mess and all he can think is, “what a perfect metaphor for my life.” 

He makes his excuses and bolts upstairs. Because he needs to be honest with Jack. He and Kent only just got back together after years apart. They’re the precedent of what can happen if he doesn’t communicate while the weight of the hockey world is pounding down on them. He’s at the mercy of these insane politics, but that doesn’t mean he can’t control his life. It doesn’t mean that Bitty can’t vent to his boyfriend when life gets too hard.

He shoots Kent a quick text. _I’m calling him now._

 _Fucking finally._ He receives almost instantly. Bitty smiles softly.

He tries Jack a couple (dozen) of times. Eric relents to leaving a voicemail. But Jack calls back in middle of him lamenting to his answering machine. They talk, and as hard as Bitty tries he’s still going to put Jack first. They tentatively resolve the situation, and Bitty is disappointed by how unrelieved he feels. He rests a little easier that night, however. He counts it as a win.  

He’s awoken early in the morning to the sound of his phone buzzing. Jack’s downstairs waiting to be let in.

“Oh, you fool. Oh, my God, you did not drive here from the airport—Jack it’s five in the morn—” he sputters. “What if the boys—for goodness sake—”

“Bitty,” Jack stops him. “You’re not doing this by yourself, okay? We’re a team.”

If Kent saying his words makes his heart swoon, Jack makes him weep. It was everything he needed to hear, everything he needed to know. Jack holds him tight and all Eric can think is “it’s going to be ok.”

He drags Jack upstairs to dry him off. They talk and they talk. He admits that Kent said his words first.

“When?”

“Three weeks ago?”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“He told me we ought to talk about what was bothering me,” Bitty winces slightly.

“So instead of listening to him you ignored both of us,” he concludes.

Eric buries his head in Jack’s neck. “It was dumb, I know.”

“I just want you to be able to trust me,” Jack huffs before amending, “us, I guess.”

“I do, honey,” Bitty assures him. “It’s just I don’t trust myself to feel things or talk about things that aren’t happy. I’ll work on it though.”

They call Kent and talk some more things out. They go to Jerry’s and tell their friends—then later they tell the Frogs which is its own spectacle. They asked Kent beforehand if he’d be ok with telling the team about him.

“I’m pretty sure that the only risk of someone finding out is if Chowder was best friends with half the NHL,” Kent chirps before adding, “fuck, that could really happen.”

“Hush you,” Bitty chastises him. “None of them will say a word we promise.”

“I know, I trust you.” He says it like a mantra. Bitty wonders if it’s for his sake or Bitty’s.

They start dating shortly after that. They don’t get to see each other often—usually relaying gifts through the mail and Jack when possible. Before he can blink, it’s the second semester of Bitty’s senior year. The Aces are playing the Falconers and it’s the end of Kent’s roadie. He has a day to spare and Jack only has practice the next day. Bitty takes a train down to watch them play. He sits in the friends and family section, casually sporting an Aces cap that clashes with his signed Zimmermann jersey.

It’s a close game, but ultimately the Falcs win with Jack’s hat trick in the third period. Kent’s reaction is an amusing combination of indignation and pride. Bitty thinks they’ve all come a long way in the last two years. It’s been a long road of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Above all, they’ve had to learn how to trust each other to be there.

He’s in Jack’s kitchen working on a lemon merengue pie when Kent comes barreling in. Kent nearly knocks Bitty’s mixing bowl over as he hugging Bitty from behind.

“Careful,” Bitty squawks. “What do you think you’re doing sir?”

“Loving you,” Kent murmurs.

Bitty sighs dramatically, “if you insist.” He turns around in Kent’s arms. “How you doin’ sugar?”

“Considering I’m getting laid tonight, pretty good,”

“That’s what you think,” Bitty chirps. “Where’s Jack?”

“I don’t know,” he waggles his eyebrows.

“Something tells me I shouldn’t believe you.”  

Kent shrugs innocently.

“What’s tha—,” Bitty shrieks as he’s lifted into Jack’s arms in one fell swoop. Jack peppers his face with kisses. “Did I just get ambushed?”

“Yup,” Kent smirks before taking a few kisses of his own.

Bitty giggles, “alright, that’s enough.”

“Is it enough? What do you think Zimms?”

“No,” Jack announces with a straight face, “it’s not nearly enough.”

They’re attacking with affection and it’s sweet. But he also has a pie to finish and the kitchen is his domain.

“Enough, stop,” he protests through laughs. He’s ignored once more.

“Get out!” He insists abruptly.

Jack’s arms stiffen. Eric is momentarily relieved as he’s being lowered, but the look on Kent’s face makes him wish he’d never opened his mouth. He looks perplexed, high, and like he’s been punched in the face. Bitty doesn’t know what he’s thinking.

“Ken—”

“You said it,” Kent interrupts.

It takes a minute for Bitty’s mind to catch up. He’s staring at Kent blankly when it clicks.

“Your words are ‘get out’?” He balks.

It’s not that he’d never seen Kent naked, far from it. However, most of the time he was coming off playing a game, and still had foundation covering his mark. Other times, they did it in the dark. He respected Kent not wanting to show him. But there Kent was, grabbing a makeup wipe, pulling his shirt collar down, and scrubbing his skin.

_Get out_

“Oh honey,” he frowns. “I’m so sorry. Y’all know I didn’t mean it like—”

“No it’s ok,” Kent protests excitedly. “I’m glad you did.”

“You are?” Bitty and Jack stare at him worriedly.

“I love you,” Kent punctuates each word.

“I know,” Bitty snorts.

“I want us to come out,” he takes Bitty’s hands, squeezing them gently. “I want Jack and I to be able to date you publicly. Enough of this in the closet bullshit.”

“Kenny,” Jack protests.

“Wait listen,” Kent holds up a hand. “Every team in the league has at least one guy with a male soulmate. If we all come out at the same time, there’s no problem. There’ll be too many targets for one person to bear the brunt of the media.”

“And what makes you think that many players will agree to that?”

“I might’ve been campaigning all season,” he brushes off casually.

“What about management?” Bitty points out. “What if they drop all y’all for coming out?”

“No dice,” Kent smirks, “most of these guys have at least a season before they’re RFA’s. Plus, I thought of that. Only one team’s been resistant to the idea. And honestly? The Aces can go fuck themselves.”

“Oh honey,” Bitty

“It’s ok, I was thinking of moving closer to home anyway,” Kent smiles broadly. “If you don’t mind me crashing here more often, that is.”

And as if Jack could read Bitty’s mind, he chimes in, “I think we could manage.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title - lyrics from Anything Could Happen by Ellie Goulding 
> 
> Sorry if this was too fluffy and quick. If you want more PB&J and haven't read my other fics, I currently have 42k dedicated to these three that you can find on my profile.
> 
> I'm rarepair, poly trash and accept prompts. [Come say hi on Tumblr.](http://abominableobriens.tumblr.com)


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